Plot Summary

New Yorkers Paul Bratter and Corie Bratter née Banks have just gotten married. He is a stuffed shirt just starting his career as a lawyer. She is an independent-minded free spirit who prides herself on doing the illogical purely out of a sense of adventure, such acts as walking through Washington Square Park barefoot when it's 17°F outside. Their 6-day honeymoon at the Plaza Hotel shows that they can get to know each other easily in the biblical sense. But they will see if they can get to know each other in their real life when they move into their first apartment, a cozy (in other words, small), slightly-broken-down top-floor unit in a five-story walk-up. While Corie joyfully bounds up and down the stairs, Paul, always winded after a long day, hates needing to walk up the six flights (including the stairs that comprise the outside front stoop. Beyond the issues with the apartment itself, Paul and Corie must deal with an odd assortment of neighbors, most specifically eccentric senior Victor Velasco, who lives in the unusual attic and considers himself a dirty old man. Corie, worried about her single strait-laced mother Ethel Banks, wants to set her up with Victor. Without Corie or Paul truly realizing it, Ethel and Victor as a twosome is as illogical as Corie and Paul. What happens between Ethel and Victor may predict whether Corie and Paul's marriage can last in the long run.—Huggo